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Nutrition Recently Started S&S...no idea what to do with diet.

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hangdai

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Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forums and a few weeks into the Simple and Sinister. I just recently started one hand swings and TGU's with a 16 kg after meeting with an SFG instructor. So far so good. My big question is what to do with my diet. Unfortunately I've been pretty sedentary up to this point and have never really tracked what I eat, etc. I am 6'2" (188 cm), 172 lbs (78 kg) and my scale says I'm at 18.8% body fat. I have a thinner frame with little muscle, and some unsightly belly fat. I've heard the term "skinny fat" a lot as I've been reading about fitness and that would probably be an accurate descriptor here.

To start, I cut all alcohol and caffeine from my diet a couple months ago and feel a lot better. My goal is to trim down some fat and get stronger, I already see a difference in myself in only a short time so I imagine I've got a good amount of muscle to gain with this program. I can be a disciplined eater and cut my portions, but the thought of counting calories every day sounds a bit tedious. I am generally trying to eat the right things; lentils, chicken, eggs, rice, vegetables, etc. and I limit myself to eating out only once a week if that. Should I be eating more than usual for getting stronger to move up in bell size, or at maintenance or slightly below to lean down a bit? Thanks for any help.
 
Welcome! For fat loss, eating more fat and adequate protein, and less refined carbs (starch, sugar) works very well for most.

You can also combine this with 12-18 hour fasting a few days a week (such as non-training days) up to daily. This extends the time period your body is in a low-insulin, fat-burning state. Eating carbs raises insulin (necessarily) which stops fat burning while the body burns the glucose just eaten.

Tweak the variables to allow for more good carbs if you aren't making dtrength progress at the rate you like. If doing S&S 3-6 days a week, the anaerobic work will mean most of the carbs you do eat will be used to replenish glycogen (muscle energy storage) instead of belly fat.
 
It sounds like you are already on the right path. Congratulations on removing alcohol from your diet -- that is a big one.

Do not trust the scale's body fat reading. You may want to pick up some calipers and learn to use them if it's something you want to track, and perhaps start off with one of those hydrostatic weighings if you want a truly accurate number.

You're at a healthy weight and just starting to lift, so I would guess that you will see good results from continuing to move up in bell weight and eating healthy as you are without worrying about it too much.
 
I won't advise you to use a specific way of eating like intermitted fasting, a meal every 2 hours, 3 meals per day, low carb, low fat or anything, because we are all different and basically everyone of those diets work if you can stick to them.

hangdai said:
lentils, chicken, eggs, rice, vegetables, etc.
Click to expand...
Your food choices look good to me, no need to change them.

The one thing I'd want you to do is letting go of that "fat loss"-thought.
At 188cm, 78Kg and ~19%BF, traditional fat loss is none of your business. Believe me, I'm 194cm and once got down to <80Kg at somewhere around 10% BF (judged by the fact I had a visible 6-pack), which means I still carried 5-8Kg more muscle than you do now.
I looked way too thin.
Now think how you'd look like if you'd lost your fat. If you go down to that 10-12% BF area, you'd weigh ~70Kg. That's "underweight" according to the BMI-chart and given that you're very tall, you'd look like a pole -> high, but very, very slim.
You should eat at maintance, preferably even slightly higher than that to achieve body recompositioning combined with a very slow bulk.
I know you may fear that eating more will add even more fat (the traditional skinny-fat-problem), but you don't have to worry about that.
S&S is definitely not a muscle building routine in the traditional sense, but trust the program and work your way up to the Simple goal. Given your current weight and the fact that you're a beginner in the world of lifting weights, you're going to put on a good amount of muscle on your route to Simple.
You have to eat enough calories to make those muscles grow though, otherwise you just lose the fat and end up looking like an anorexic.
If you're putting in constant, progressive work with the weights (in this case kettlebells) and eat to support muscle growth, your "skinny-fatness" will vanish over time.

Counting calories for a month would be a good choice to get to know how much calories and macronutrients are in a certain portion of the things you eat. After that you can do without it, because you'd be able to estimate the amount of calories just by looking at the size of the portion.
If you really don't want to do that stay with eating the things you already eat, but don't cut yourself short, because you think you need to lose fat. Eat every meal until your natural hunger is satisfied and you feel full. Your body will tell you how much it wants to eat and when you start working out, it naturally wants a bit more. Don't fight that! Just eat untill you're full.
 
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If you're just starting out, there is plenty of strength to be gained even in a fat-loss environment.

Counting calories/macros isn't super fun at the beginning, but you get better/faster at it over time. It may not be necessary if you're making satisfactory progress. Otherwise, understand counting is a tool in the toolbox for you to use when needed.
 
+1 to what @Kettlebelephant said. You're not especially over-weight, even if you have too much fat and not enough muscle. I would "just" focus on S&S for now, eat real food ("eat like an adult" as Dan John like to say), and give yourself a few months before you worry about any big changes to your diet. For many of us, simply eating like our grandparents ate and getting some high quality activity is all we need. If, in about 3 months, you still want to improve your diet, I would start by keeping a detailed food log for about a week. Record everything that goes into your mouth, except maybe water. Then you know where you're actually starting. I only say that because many people have no idea what they actually eat, so they don't know what to fix when they want to fix something. But still, I would give it a while before you even worry about that.
 
I appreciate the advice here guys. I think I will focus on eating sensible portions of good (healthy!) food for a while and see where that takes me. I don't know a lot about macros but I have been trying to eat a lot of protein. I've weighed less than my current weight but I've never really considered myself to have an issue with eating too much or anything. I will re-evaluate when I get closer to moving up in bell size.

I read a ton of posts before I signed up for this forum, it has all been helpful and motivating. So thanks for that!
 
Welcome! It looks like you have figured out a reasonable diet. You can continue like this for abut 2 months and see how it goes, most likely you'll do fine. If you don't, reassess.

Those complex diets are powerful tools for specific goals. You are reasonably lean and quite light for your height, so you don't seem to be needing a complex diet. Maybe you can just eat a bit more and see how it goes.
 
Hello,

To quote @Pavel Macek in this thread (post #52): Pavel Macek: "Solid: In-Between Simple & Sinister"
"
- At least Simple standards = bulletproof abs
- At least Simple standards plus steak & vegetables = bulletproof abs & six-pack

As Arnold said: “Put that cookie down! NOW!”
"
In another thread - but I do not remember which one - there is something like "High fat, medium protein, low carb"

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
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